Are free weights more effective than machines?

Going to the gym is a great way to stay in shape and build muscle. Some people go to the gym to run on the treadmill, while others go to try to become more built.  When it comes to those who are trying to get bigger, what is the best way to go about it? There are dumbbells,  and machines. Which should you use? For me, I try to mix in a little bit of both, but I am under the assumption that free weights are more effective than machines.  When going by myself, I tend to use more machines because, with machines, a spotter is not necessary, while with free weights one should always have a spotter.

First, the advantages of free weights. Free weights can be used at home or at the gym, making it very easy to get a workout in wherever you are. Also, free weights allow the individual to workout using natural motion, with resistance.  It puts more stress on more muscles because free weights force you to use a large muscle group instead of targeting a specific muscle. The negatives regarding free weights mostly are associated with injury. Doing an exercise with bad form can seriously injure one’s body. For this reason, it is important to have a spotter with you, just in case. Another negative would be the fact it is hard to target one specific muscle if that is your goal.

Resistance machines also prove to be an effective way to gain strength. The machines that work best are the machines that adjust to your body, and allow a full range motion. Benefits of machines are numerous. One that sticks out is the ability to target a certain muscle or muscle group. Also, the machines provide a standard motion, which helps control the movements of your body, all but preventing injuries resulting from a wrong movement. In addition, there is no risk of hurting yourself if you try more weight than you can do. It allows you to push yourself without having to rely on a spotter because the machine is safe and will catch the weight. The detriments to using resistance machines relate to most machines not being natural motions, as well as only targeting one muscle makes working out much more difficult.

As you can see in the graph, when it comes to strength, resistance machines (green) and free weights (orange) are a close one and two when it comes to building strength. For the most part, the most importaf4b-fitvsothersnt factor in deciding which to use is preference. For instance, I use both. It depends what I am doing or what I am trying to accomplish. Most of the time, I do free weights first, allowing all of the muscles to get engaged in the activity. Then, if I want to target a muscle i will use machines toward the end of the workout. I would recommend using resistance machines until you can do a relatively large amount of weight because keeping the weights stable is half the battle of using free weights. All in all, it is a matter of preference. I personally use both, but the most important thing is finding a workout that suits you best.

The graph seen above can be found here.

 

6 thoughts on “Are free weights more effective than machines?

  1. Sarah Jo Sokoloski

    I’m an avid lifter at the gym and I’ve messed around with using both machines and free weights. I’ve personally found that free weights are a lot more effective in building mass as well as perfecting form. The downfall to machines is sometimes one side of the body could be used more than the other. In an article I found it basically went into detail that free weights worked well for functionality and structure. Free weights are good for initial mass and form, whereas machines could be beneficial in someone who has begun to plateau. Although as you said, it’s a matter of preference, but it is also ideal to use both.

  2. Claire E Going

    Hi Ryan

    I also like using free weights as opposed to machines when lifting because machines tend to be counter-weighted, so you’re never actually lifting the weight on machines that you think you are and they require you to perform less work (eccentric movement) and takes some work off the antagonist muscle which would normally be used to help lower the weight. If you ever look at the machine while you’re lifting, you can actually see a counter weight on the machine also being lifted along with your weight, making the exercise you are doing easier, so you believe that you are lifting 110 lbs, but you are actually only lifting about 100. Also, the more pulleys a machine has the easier it will be to do that particular exercise, which means your muscles aren’t doing all the work like they would be with free weights. With free weights, you are lifting the exact weight stated. However, you can still get results with machines at the gym.

  3. zsw5031

    This is an interesting post because I had the same question in mind this summer. I asked multiple friends and read multiple articles and I actually came away with a different answer than yours. I don’t think it comes down to preference but that free weights are actually better for you than machines. This is because machines tend to favor your stronger side (left or right). Free weights actually use more muscles and joints because each is lifting the same weight (example is dumbbell bench press). When you do a regular bench press your stronger side is lifting more of the weight because it’s your bodies natural ability. There are ways to make machine lifting just as effective though. For example, the incline bench press machine has 2 handles you can lift the right sides weight while the left side stays stationary. All in all, working out is extremely beneficial to your health so whether you choose to strictly use machines or strictly use free weights, you are benefiting yourself nonetheless.

  4. jqr5447

    From personal experience I am partial to free weights for strength and muscle gain. I’ve always liked free weights because they put strain on your stabilizer muscles too, also strengthening those. However, I have spent most of my time working out in the PSU varsity weight room. There are only free weights in those weight rooms for the most part (probably for a reason). For someone who is just looking to get bigger (not for a sport), I can definitely see how machines can help specific major muscle groups. I would say do the majority of your workout with free weights and use machines at the end to finish it off.

  5. das5959

    I did a bit of an experiment myself using free weights and the machines. The machines worked more specific parts of my muscles, and made me believe I was lifting more than I actually could. When I switched to the free weights, I put on the same amount that I was pulling on the machines, and I was no where near where I thought I was. I looked asked some friends about it, and they said what happens is the natural compensation that happens between your muscles. One arm is stronger than the other, so on the resistance machines your stronger arm pulls more than the other, and you get imbalanced. I found a nice compromise were the ISO machines in the gym, that give you some fulcrums and a resistance type feel to it but still keeps both arms (or legs) working the same

  6. cfl5109

    This is a good question I always ask myself also. I go to the gym sometimes, but I am not by a far stretch a huge weight lifter. I have always done training with sports through high school but I never went to the gym on my own time and did some serious weight lifting. However, whenever I was working out with the team at school, my coach would always tell me how we aren’t going to use the machines because they don’t work as well. So from then on I always wondered if they truly didn’t work as well or if that was just his preference. According to your research and graph it is starting to make sense to me now though that it is more a matter of preference. I always thought machines were better for me because I cannot lift a lot of weight so I found it easier to push myself with a machine because there was less risk of injury and it helped me to keep my form even if I was trying to do more weight than I could actually handle. In the end, I agree with you that it is best to use a mix of both because machines allow you to push yourself safely, and free weights allow you to use my muscle groups at a time. One study I think that would be interesting on this subject is if one were to take two men of the same body weight and build and have one use just free weights, and the other use just machine and over a period of say 4 months watch them and at the end see which has gained more mass in muscle. If both the candidates used the same work out schedule, diet, and used the same supplementation such as protein, I think this would offer up some interesting conclusions!

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